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Vehicle Combat
The following rules should be used to mediate combat rounds for vehicles. The Initiative Round In an Initiative Round involving vehicles, the characters inside the vehicle must use the vehicle's Initiative instead of their own to establish the Initiative Order. A vehicle can Wait if the Captain decides to do so, but a vehicle cannot Rush. During a vehicle's turn, all the characters in it will take turns in the order established by their own Initiative. They are allowed to Rush, but it only affects the order of play of characters within the vehicle, not the order of play between vehicles or charcters outside them. Characters can perform any type of action they can think of within the usual limits of their environment, which will usually involve using of the vehicle's modules. GM TIP: When it's the PC's vehicle's turn, let them take their turns in any order to play out their strategies. Do not force them to take their turns in the Initiative's order, which will only make them use the Wait mechanic until they can achieve the order of play they desire. Order of play within a vehicle only matters when there are opponents inside - in that case you'll have to resolve the conflict within the vehicle. Resolve Effects During Maintenance Phase Stress During the Maintenance Phase, al the characters in a vehicle with Stress must confront with their EVA and Constitution a TSE that plays as many cards as the Stress (perform the same TSE for all of the characters inside). Then, remove all the Stress on the vehicle. Each character who fails receives as much neural damage as the number of cards played by the TSE. Strain During the Maintenance Phase, one characters in a Vehicle with Strain must confront with his Technical and his Link (he can use Dexterity if he is in the Core System) a TSE that plays as many cards as the Strain. Then remove all the Strain on the vehicle. If he fails, the vehicle suffers the accident of some kind by reason narrated by the GM related to the reckless driving or overworking of the machinery (eg. you drive too close to a wall and one of your machine gun's barrels is ripped off by the impact, you push the vehicle too hard and it breaks etc...). The GM chooses and shuts down as many modules as the number of cards played by the TSE. Moving Vehicles The game mechanics only contemplate the relative distance between vehicles, leaving things like the actual speed, altitude, direction and other details up to the GM to narrate (or not). In space it does not matter at all, as getting anywhere takes weeks or months and confrontation is resolved in minutes, therefore the distance the vehicles move with the timeframe of a confrontation is negligible. On land, it is slightly more important, as there are constant obstacles, turns and everything from the type of the terrain to the weather can have an effect on the outcome of the scene. For this reason, it is up to the to narrate what the players face at each given time, triggering TSEs when they are needed to represent certain obstacles or difficulties. In open space and at travel speed, the time spaceships have to fire at each other is close to zero, unless both spaceships are travelling in the same direction and at a similar speed. Confrontations between spaceships will usually take place with the Labyrinth, or when approach their landing location, where travelling at maximum speed is suicidal, and spaceships are forced to travel at sub-minimum speeds, thus making it much easier to manouever. Speed Speed is represented with tokens (if you don't have any, you can write it down with a pencil, or use the numbers in a die). When a conflict between vehicles begins, they might already be on the move. Depending on the situation, they can start the encounter with more or less Speed tokens on them, as determined by the GM. NOTE: Remember that a vehicle inside an atmosphere has a maximum Speed. And although there is no limit for the Speed in a vacuum, it is recommended not to start with more than 5 Speed on the PC's vehicle. It can be useful to visualise the relative position of the vehicles using the Vehicle Board. Terrain Vehicles, same as characters, can use terrain in their favour to obtain some kind of advantage over their opponents, such as protection against attacks, a place to hide, or an opportunity to lose their pursuers. It is up to the GM to decide if a certain terrain can be used by a specific vehicle, given its size and characteristics, or if moving through it might incur penalties of some kind (ie. a small humvee might be able able to use a forest to stay hidden, whereas a tank might have trouble navigating through the same terrain). Terrain can also be used to hide, move stealthily, and avoid readers and other forms of detection. Some terrain might be difficult to navigate - confronting vehicles that try to move through it as a TSE and damaging or impairing the movement of those vehicle that fail - or even impassable for certain vehicles which must find a way around. TIP: When the terrain confronts the vehicle, it should be a TSE that plays as many cards as the vehicle's Speed (and can have advantages or disadvantages depending on the circumstances). However, it is up to the GM to decide the effects and opportunities that might arise when playing in a given terrain. Vehicles can hide, ambush and approach stealthily like characters do - although oftentimes it is very difficult for them to get close enough to do these things effectively. Also, vehicles can get cover from rocks, buildings, and all terrain is a narrative tool that each GM can use as they see fit for their stories. Attacking a Vehicle When attacking a vehicle, you can either target the vehicle as a whole, or try to target one of its systems, in which case you will receive one disadvantage. Neither option will allow you to attack the crew directly. An attack against a vehicle has two effects simultaneously: One it can cause damage which will eventually lead to the destruction of the vehicle; and Two, it can shut down one or more modules, which will eventually lead to the vehicle becoming inoperative. To represent these effects, follow the following steps: # Subtract the damage death from the vehicle's Structure. If it is reduced below zero, the vehicle is destroyed. # Divide the damage caused by the vehicle's Threshold and round it down. The resulting number is the Piercing damage. # Choose a System to be the target of the Piercing damage. If the attacker targeted one of the vehicle's Systems, that the System that will be damaged, otherwise it is closed by the target vehicle's Captain (he cannot choose a System which has all of its modules shut down and has no characters in it). # The Captain chooses a number of modules of that System equal to the piercing damage and shuts them down. E.g. A successful attack deals 12 damage, which is reduced to 9 by the vehicle's Armour 3. The vehicle's Structure is reduced by 9 points. Additionally, the vehicle's Threshold is 4, which means the attack's Piercing damage shuts down 2 modules. If there are any characters inside the system receiving the damage, the Captain can decide to convert one or more Piercing damage into one or more final physical damage to each of those characters instead of shutting down that many modules. If all the modules are shut down, any extra Piercing damage must be converted into final physical damage for characters inside that system. E.g. If in the previous example, the attack targetted the vehicle's Cockpit. This vehicle has one working module installed in the Cockpit. The attack shuts it down, and then deals one final physical damage to each members of the crew. If the Cockpit System had two working modules, the Captain could have chose: 1. To shut down both modules; the crew takes no damage. 2. To shut down only one module, letting the crew inside the cock receive one final physical damage. 3. To let the crew inside the Cockpit System receive two final physical damage; no modules are shut down. Valid Counteractions to an Attack Due to the nature of vehicle combat, its typical ranges, the aiming automation systems, preventative counteractions (such as attacking back, or hacking the attacking vehicle) are not considered valid counteractions against attacks by vehicles and cannot be chose as such (missiles shot by vehicles, on the other hand, can be confronted in this fashion, because once they leave the vehicle, they are not considered part of the vehicle). Therefore, the only valid type of counteraction against an attack is trying to avoid it. Crew of a Destroyed Vehicle Vehicles are meant to be able to withstand a lot, so when one breaks it is seriously bad news for the crew inside. If the crew does not die from the impact, it will be left exposed to the exterior, or even thrown out at high speed. As a general rule, if the crew does not leave the vehicle before it is destroyed, they die. However, it might make sense in your story for your character not die straight away after their vehicle is destroyed, Tiy cab okay a whole scene in which the characters escape from the vehicle, leaving the controls behind, dodging broken parts and flames played by TSEs, and if they are successful you survive. Hacking a Vehicle When you Hack a vehicle, you must declare any one of its systems as your target. The target vehicle can confront your action hacking your own vehicle, or lets its Firewall confront your action. To resolve a successful DoS action against a vehicle, divide its final ACS damage you dealt by the targets Threshold and round it down. The resulting amount is the number of modules that are shut down in the system you targeted. The Captain of the target vehicle chooses which modules are shut down (if the attack could shut down more module than the target system has, the extra ACS damage is lost). Repairing a Vehicle Modules can stop working for two reasons, they can either be shut down from ACS damage, or from Piercing damage from a regular attack. A both are repaired the same way you don't need to keep tack of what shut each down. To repair a module, the vehicle must either be fitted with a working repairing module or have enough room to be able to be repaired manually by a robot or technician. Select the module you want to repair and be confronted by a TSE that plays as many chards as the vehicle's Threshold. If all the modules in that system were shutdown, receive one disadvantage. If you are successful, the module is repaired, but cannot be used until the end of the vehicle's turn. Hiding and Searching Vehicles Vehicles can also Hide and Search. Hiding and Searching actions are performed by the pilot using his Mind, and, instead of his Survival, he will use the vehicle's Stealth to hide and the vehicle's Rader to search. A vehicle receives as many disadvantages towards hiding as its Size. A vehicle moving close by is reason enough to suspect that something is hiding, as they are very large and fairly notices - of course, they also need a very large cover. In space, using the engine is also reason enough to trigger a Searching action from anyone in range (bear in mind that in space the engine is only use whe changing direction or Speed, as there is no air resistance a vehicle does not lose speed on its own and can keep flying on a set course with the engines off). What Ambience? While inside a vehicle, use the following clues to understand which ambience the characters are in while performing their actions: If the characters are using the vehicles modules and the action's success only reflects in the internal functioning of the vehicle (such as Repairing), it is OS. If the action's success reflects in something happening outside the vehicle (such as moving, shooting something, etc...) it is the ambience in which the vehicle finds itself: Space, Urban or Wilderness. If there characters are performing actions themselves instead of using a module (perhaps because there are enemies within their vehicle), the ambience would be Urban for a vehicle in a place with gravity, or Space for a vehicle in the vacuum of space. Hacking actions are always OS. Category:Vehicle Category:Mechanics